Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 1.
Frank Moore, Ed.

Doc. 33.--Constitution of the Confederated States.

The Preamble reads as follows:

We, the deputies of the sovereign and independent States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, invoking the favor of Almighty God, do hereby, in behalf of these States, ordain and establish this Constitution for the provisional government of the same, to continue one year from the inauguration of the President, or until a permanent constitution or confederation between the said States shall be put in operation, whichsoever shall first occur.

The seventh section, first article, is as follows:

The importation of African negroes from any foreign country other than the slaveholding States of the United States, is hereby forbidden, and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same.

Article second-“Congress shall also have power to prohibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a member of this Confederacy.”

Article fourth of the third clause of the second section says:

A slave in one State escaping to another shall be delivered up on the claim of the party to whom said slave may belong, by the executive authority of the State in which such slave may be found; and in case of any abduction or forcible rescue, full compensation, including the value of the slave, and all costs and expenses, shall be made to the party by the State in which such abduction or rescue shall take place.

Article sixth of the second clause says:

The Government hereby instituted shall take immediate steps for the settlement of all matters between the States forming it, and their late confederates of the United States, in relation to the public property and public debt at the time of their withdrawal from them, these States hereby declaring it to be their wish and earnest desire to adjust every thing pertaining to the common property, common liabilities, and common obligations of that Union, upon principles of right, justice, equity, and good faith.

The tariff clause provides that “the Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises for revenue necessary to pay the debts and carry on the Government of the Confederacy, and all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout. the Confederacy.” [30]

All the other portions of the Constitution are almost identical with the Constitution of the United States.--Commercial Advertiser.